21
by Let's Call Her The Tarryn
Summary: When Derek promises Lizzie that he'll make sure Casey has a great twenty-first birthday both Casey and Derek are thrown into an adventure that brings them closer than they ever thought they'd be.
1. Oh, those elusive dreams

Holy crap! I know, I know...I haven't been around in FOREVER. Those of you who remember me and are still around, feel free to start throwing the rocks! Let the rotten tomatos fly! I disappeared and left a bunch of loose ends. I wouldn't be surprised if I've been completely forgotten. Heck, I've been gone so long I don't even know if people are still around at all! For my old readers: I'VE MISSED YOU SO! And to new readers: I'LL FALL MADLY IN LOVE WITH YOU IF YOU READ AND REVIEW! Ah, how I've missed this. It's like coming home again.

* * *

Visions of swimsuit models and video game controls were dancing around in Derek Venturi's head until a quite distracting vibrating began next to his face. Derek's hand reached out to try and push the bothersome vibrating object away before his dream disappeared but he somehow managed only to smack himself in the head.

It was all very unfortunate.

Derek reluctantly opened his eyes, silently acknowledging whatever evil-doer had come up with the scheme which interrupted his blissful, simple dream (he had just gotten to the part where a blonde in a skimpy red bikini was approaching him, holding a Wii remote on rumble mode…). After taking part in a short but epic battle against his sheets, which had somehow ended up wrapped around his right leg, his torso and up to his left arm, he finally uncovered the vibrating culprit from under his pillow. He took a moment to glare at the phone before he pushed send and put it to his ear.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked grumpily.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine!" Lizzie chirped in an obnoxiously bright voice. "Did you even check to see who was calling or is that how you normally answer?"

"I couldn't care less if you were the President calling only to see if he felt that my greeting was up to his standards and if it wasn't I would be doomed to spend the rest of my life locked up in federal prison with only a bread crumb named Francis as a friend and a toothbrush as my life partner. You have no idea how good my dream was before you went and ruined it." Derek grumbled.

"Aw, poor wittle Derek." Lizzie mocked. "I think you'll survive."

"What's going on? You're acting like Casey. You're supposed to be the nice, not annoying step-sister. You know, the one that I actually like and don't want to murder in her sleep. Where's that Lizzie? Because this one is inching closer and closer to a late night death by spatula."

Lizzie scoffed. "Spatula? Really, Derek?"

"What. Do. You. Want?" Derek asked slowly and then squinted at the time. "Christ, Liz. It's seven-thirty in the morning. None of my classes even start until ten!"

"It's Friday. You'll have the weekend to be lazy." Lizzie said. "Speaking of this weekend…"

Derek suddenly realized the reason for this phone call. He knew what Lizzie was going to bring up and he knew that she thought he had forgotten. He hadn't. But he wasn't going to let her know that.

"What about this weekend?" Derek asked gruffly.

"Don't you remember what happens this weekend? Or more specifically, tomorrow?"

Derek pretended to ponder for a moment before saying, "Nope, I have no idea."

"Not one single, tiny, little idea?"

"No."

"Not even the teeniest, faintest idea of what tomorrow could be has crossed your mind at all?" Lizzie asked sweetly.

"Not at all."

"What is wrong with you?" Lizzie bellowed into the phone. Derek had to move the phone away from his head. "Tomorrow is Casey's twenty-first birthday!"

"Oh. Yeah. That." Derek said dryly.

"_Oh. Yeah. That."_ Lizzie repeated sarcastically. "Really, Derek, this is a big deal, and you're going to take this seriously."

"Take what seriously?" Derek inquired. "You're talking like we're talking about planning to kidnap a royal or something, not about Casey's birthday."

"Casey's birthday is important!" Lizzie bellowed once more. "Her birthday's always suck. No matter what, something goes wrong. She's tried to not be as OCD about the day and it still doesn't help. And this year we're not going to be able to see her until next weekend so it is _your_ job to make sure Casey has a good birthday this year. It's her twenty-first. It has to be good. Especially to make up for what a disaster her eighteenth was."

Derek removed the phone from his ear once again, but this time to stare at it. After what he felt was an appropriate amount of time spent gawking at a telephone, Derek put it back to his ear.

"Excuse me," he began, "But who put crack in your corn flakes this morning?"

"Neither crack nor corn flakes have been anywhere near me so far today." Lizzie stated. "And I repeat: You will make sure Casey has a good birthday."

"Liz, it's me. My idea of making sure Casey has a good birthday is by sabotaging things, and her idea is having me far, far away. How do you possibly expect me to make sure she has a _good_ birthday?"

Lizzie sighed deeply on the other end. "Can't you be human to her for _once_, Derek? I know our whole family has been asking this of you for the last six years, but just this once, do it."

Derek knew that he was right-the best thing he could do to ensure that Casey's birthday was somewhat decent was to stay away. But he also knew that Lizzie was not going to give up until he at least said he was going to do what she said, whether he really intended to or not.

"Fine." Derek "I'll do it. Whatever. Just don't come yelling at me if her birthday ends up being a disaster."

"Thank you, Derek. I really appreciate it." Lizzie said, sounding sincere. "Now I'm going to go search for some of that crack and corn flakes that you mentioned. I suggest you do the same."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Bye Lizzie." He hung up the phone and let it drop onto his bed with a soft plop.

Derek was preparing to pull the covers back over him and get more sleep when something came flying from the other side of the room and hit him in the head, causing him to fall backward on his mattress. He sat up, taking the projectile pillow and throwing it back across the room. His roommate Adam caught it from where he was sitting up in his own bed.

"Douche, you are so freaking loud." Adam said, his voice mixed with annoyance and amusement.

"Not my fault I have an annoying step-sister." Derek shrugged.

"Dude, what's Casey doing calling so early?" Adam inquired.

"Actually, that was Lizzie."

"Oh." Adam thought this over for a moment. "I don't think I've ever heard you call her annoying. It's usually just Casey. Actually, bro, it's kind of funny. Sometimes I forget you even have another step-sister because all I ever hear you talk about is Casey and how annoying Casey is and Casey's-"

"I get it!" Derek cut him off. "That's not even funny." He grumbled.

Adam rolled his eyes before laying lying down, his back to Derek. Derek sat and pondered over whether there was any chance he would actually do as Lizzie had asked. Deciding the answer was no, he too laid down. His eyes stayed closed for a good thirty seconds before they opened again. _Awake,_ he realized. He sighed heavily.

"Wanna go get pancakes?"

"I call dibs on the bathroom, you sleep-stealing bastard." Adam replied immediately.

* * *

The familiar sound of the soft, tinkling bell met Derek's ears as he entered the small, well-loved pancake house, Lima Bean, named simply because Greta, the seventy-three year old owner had found it to be an insanely funny thing to name a pancake house when she had first opened it, thirty-nine years prior. She still took immense joy out of newbie Freshman inquiring about the true meaning behind the name of the favorite place for the colleges students to get a hefty stack of artery-clogging pancakes and some good bacon.

The smell of said artery-clogging pancakes and good bacon washed over Derek, enveloping him like a blanket. The comfort was synonymous with walking into Lima.

"Well, look at that," a breathy, cigarette-scarred voice rasped. "Derek Venturi and Adam Peloski up and about earlier than ten minutes before the start of class. My bet is that you either haven't been to sleep or…nope, I can't come up with another reason."

"You show such little faith in us." Adam smiled at Greta who was behind the counter, leaning on her elbows.

"Oh, I have faith-faith that you'll drink, break hearts and sleep through all your classes and somehow still pass. Now order some food, already!"

Derek smirked while Adam dropped himself into a stool at the counter and stretched both arms across it's length. "Bring us fat and bring us grease!" He demanded, pounding both of his palms against the countertop.

Greta's grayish-purple hair tumbled out of her messy bun a little as she shook her head at the boys. "I hope you remembered your wallets this time."

"Hey," Derek proclaimed as he took a seat beside Adam, "That was only one time and we paid you back!"

Greta cocked her head sideways and gave him a knowing stare.

"Alright, alright, fine. It's happened more than once." Derek admitted.

"But we always had hot and/or desperate girls to pick up our tab for us." Adam added.

"And we really did pay you back that one time." Derek concluded.

Greta whistled slowly. "You boys are a well oiled machine. Now, stay quiet you putzes!" Greta smiled before dipping into the kitchen to order something for them.

"Ah, that woman." Derek chuckled.

"I know. Fifty years younger and she'd be the perfect woman." Adam nodded.

"Ew!" A voice next to Derek exclaimed. He immediately stiffened and closed his eyes. "Say it ain't so." He murmured.

"Ah, but it is, brah. But it is." Adam said solemnly.

Derek gripped the counter and turned himself around on his swivel seat to see Casey staring down at him.

"You're sick, you know that?" She said, decidedly.

"You're humorless, you know that?" Derek threw back. "What are you doing here?" He demanded to know.

"I should be asking you the same thing!" She cried. "I didn't know it was possible for you to exist before noon."

"Hey, my classes all start before noon!" Derek defended himself.

"Like that'd ever stop you." Casey rolled her eyes.

Derek opened his mouth to say something but realized that, for the most part, she was right, so decided to let that one go.

Adam, who had propped his elbow on the countertop and cupped his chin in his palm, spoke. "Well, hellooooo, lovely lady." He batted his eyelashes at her ridiculously. "Sup?" He let the p pop loudly.

Casey rolled her eyes again and grumbled, "Hey, Adam."

"Okay, great! We've all said our good mornings. Now go somewhere else, Casey. Somewhere away. Like, that way." Derek pointed toward the doors of Lima.

"You're pathetic." Casey surmised, sliding into the seat next to her step-brother.

"No." Derek said. "No, no. No, no, no. No sitting. Sitting is not permitted here. Move along, confused little girl." He waved his hand at her.

"I was here first. I'm always first! If anyone should go it should be you idiots, but I'm above you, so I'm not going to try and make you leave."

"I wish you were above me." Adam murmured, but not quietly enough. Greta, who had reappeared behind the counter, placed down the food-laden plates she was holding skillfully and slapped here hand across the back of Adam's head.

"Be respectful!"

"You want to keep your establishment full of dignity and respect, then you should make her leave!" Derek cried, pointing at Casey.

Greta chucked. "Funny," she said, "Casey told me that same thing about you years ago."

"Always first." Casey said knowingly, plucking a sausage off of Derek's plate.

* * *

"Hi!"

"Oh my God!" Derek cried, nearly tripping. He and Adam had been walking around campus when Casey suddenly appeared next behind them.

"Stop doing that!" He cried.

"Don't be such a baby." Casey rolled her eyes.

Derek took a moment to glare at her before turning and continuing to walk, which Adam followed, as did Casey.

"Why are you following us?" Derek asked, not bothering to look behind him as he walked.

"What do you even do anymore when you're not asleep or at some disgusting, drunken orgy disguised as a frat party? I no longer actually know." Casey wondered, following her step-brother.

Adam sighed heavily beside Derek. "Do you think we could outrun her?" He asked.

"No." Derek and Casey said in unison, Derek sounding sullen and Casey sounding chipper.

"Damn." Adam mumbled. "Well could you at least walk in front of me so I can enjoy the view while you yap?"

Casey reached over and slapped him across the head.

"Ow! Aren't you supposed to believe violence is not the answer and all that crap?" Adam asked, rubbing the back of his head. "You keep Derek from getting the shit beat out of him by some guy three times his size in high school, but me, the future father of your children! Yeah, me you slap."

"Hey! How'd you know about that?" Derek asked, sounding offended.

"Oh, I have a psychic aunt. She says we'll have seven children, all boys. Their names will all start with G. Our firstborn will be Günter. A hearty, lively boy he will be."

"Dream on, loser!" Casey exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm not talking about your sick and delusional fantasy, which, by the way, sounds like a prison sentence to me. I don't know why you find such things at all desirable. I was talking about the whole guy three times my size thing." Derek said.

"Oh, that." Adam waved his hand in the air. "Edwin. He gets really chatty at the holidays."

Casey snorted loudly to which Adam said, "Oh, don't get all pompous-like back there, Case. Everyone in your family tends to be of the loose-lip variety, and let me tell you, I may as well have known you since birth."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure you know so much." Casey said.

"I could talk for days about Max and Truman, Casey. Seems to me you have some problems picking out the right kind of guys. Don't worry though, baby. I'm here now." Adam turned and smiled brightly at her, walking backwards. Casey rolled her eyes.

"Can we get back to my original question?" Derek stopped walking. "Why are you following us?"

Casey shrugged.

"She wants me." Adam said simply.

"I want you to be in a different country." Casey enunciates.

"Focus!" Derek nearly shouted, grabbing a hold of Casey's shoulders.

Casey picked up Derek's hands disdainfully and removes them from their resting place. "Is anything interesting going on tonight?"

"What?"

"Like, any, um, interesting parties? Or an event or something…" Casey spoke to the ground.

There was a long pause as Derek looked at her like she was crazy. Finally he said, "No."

"Oh, so you're not doing anything tonight or going out or-"

"Casey, this has already been the longest day of my life and it's only, like, two o'clock. I'm probably going to sleep tonight so I won't have to do it again until Monday afternoon."

"Oh, okay." Casey said, suddenly bright. "Then go on, about your day!" She patted him on the cheek, a little harder than necessary, before turning and walking away.

Derek and Adam stared at her as she went.

"See? Now that, that's the view I was looking for." Adam said, nodding in approval.

Derek slapped the side of his friend's head before turning and walking away.

* * *

Derek was once again submerged in a luscious dream. He was sitting on a bed that was bigger than his entire dorm room, leaning against copious amounts of huge, fluffy pillows, clothed in a red velvet robe. Surrounding him were girls-lots and lots of girls. In one corner of the massive bed, several girls were having a pillow fight, complete with giggles and floating feathers. In another corner, two girls were in the midst of a playful wrestling match while two others hovered over them, one holding a bottle of chocolate sauce, the other a can of whipped cream. Derek smiled contentedly as he put his arms behind his head.

He was happily observing the awesomeness that was ensuing around him when he noticed one of the girls crawling toward him. She was a striking brunette with pale blue eyes. She sat in front of him, smiling shyly.

"Derek." She sighed his name wistfully.

Derek smirked, "Yes, babe?"

She smiled more. "Oh, Derek."

"Are you in need of some Derek lovin'?" he asked thoughtfully. She nodded eagerly.

"Your wish is my command."

Derek began to lean in toward the girl but once he was close enough that their noses were nearly touching, he stopped. The pale blue of her eyes had changed. It had become brighter, deeper, more familiar. He leaned back. Her hair was now lightly waved instead of straight as it had first been.

"Derek?" Her voice sounded far away and surrounded by static even though she was right in front of him.

It took him a moment to fully comprehend what had happened. Then it hit him and his heart started to slam against his ribcage. A thin sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Derek?" Her voice was louder now, more annoyed than wistful. And also more melodic than it had been moments before.

He stared at her, wide-eyed, wondering how the hell this could have happened.

"Der-ek!" She finally yelled angrily.

He fell back against the pillows, his heart still pounding, and shivered.

The number 21 was glowing at him from within both her pupils.

Derek jolted awake. He became so focused on trying to slow down his frantic breathing that it took him a good minute to notice the large set of blue eyes that were staring down at him curiously.

"Is that good dream panting or bad dream panting?" Casey asked but then seemed to rethink the question and held out a palm at him as if trying to block any response he might make. "You know what, never mind. I _don't_ want to know. But jeez, you're hard to wake up. It wasn't even this hard when we were in high school. Now it basically takes a nuclear bomb to get you up."

Derek stared up at her in disbelief. "What is it with you McDonald's and screwing up really good dreams?" he cried.

"Don't know, don't care." Casey responded immediately. "Now get up and put some pants on."

Derek raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You're excused." Casey nodded solemnly, "Now find some pants."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how you're probably going to want to be wearing pants when I kidnap you from this room for the night. What can I say? I'm feeling generous."

"Are you kidding me?" Derek cried.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Casey asked, standing with her hands on her hips, looking down at him.

"You've lost your mind." Derek whispered incredulously.

"Pants!" Casey declared.

The authoritative tone in her voice sent a shiver through him that he ignored whenever she got bossy, but this time he was a little scared, too. She had the crazy eyes going, and that was always a sign to dial down on his attitude.

Grumbling, he got up, ignoring the fact that he was only wearing his boxers in front of her, and pulled on his pants that he had thrown on the floor next to his bed then the rumpled shirt that had been discarded there too. He barely had time to push his shoes onto his feet and grab a hold of his jacket before she had stepped next to him and begun pushing her palm against his back, shoving him toward the door.

Not willing to relent completely he dug his heels into the carpet, trying to keep her from moving him anymore.

"Adam!" Derek shouted. "You're not even going to try and help? A crazy lady is trying to abduct me from the room!"

Adam sat up from his bed and blinked innocently in Derek's direction. "Said crazy lady offered me twenty bucks to forget any of this ever happened. And now that a pretty new twenty is nicely folded inside my wallet, I am thoroughly convinced that this is all a dream. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to roll over and get to my next dream. Maybe I'll get paid in that one, too."

"Traitor!" Derek hissed.

Adam waved a hand at him dismissively before rolling over.

"Great, now that we have that settled, let's go!" Casey exclaimed, grabbing Derek's hand. She paused once she had dragged him to the door. "Wait, you have your wallet, right?"

Derek glared at her in the darkness, sure she could see him anyway. Minions of the devil could see in the dark, right?

Too impatient to wait for an answer, Casey's free hand reached down and dipped into his pants pocket, lifting out his wallet far enough to see it.

"Hey!" Derek cried out, surprised by the invasion. "Come on, now! Adam, she's trying to molest me! You're really not gonna help your best friend out?"

"Man," Adam grumbled, his face smashed into his pillow, "Have you looked at her? I wouldn't be complaining if she was molesting _me. Get over it."_

Derek felt his face go red- like my face is going to fall off, it's so hot right now, red. But Casey, either blissfully oblivious to the exchange or smartly ignoring it, let Derek's wallet drop back into his pocket, opened the door, and dragged him through it.

_

* * *

_

I'm desperately hoping people are here reading this. It would be very lovely. I have quite a few people that have me on their alert list so I'm hoping many of you have opened a happy surprise of an e-mail that led you here. Anyone out there, please review. I haven't gone through fics lately, but I tried and read something about a Dasey revival and I am ALL FOR THAT. I finally caught bits and pieces of that Life with Derek movie and though they didn't fufill my Dasey wish, I mean, _come on._ The girl Derek ended up with looks EXACTLY like Casey. It was so funny, I fell over from laughing. Ahh, the good ol' Dasey wishing times. REVIEW! :)

-Tarryn


	2. Planning, prioritzing and glitter

A big thanks to everyone who reviewed with an extra sugary sprinkle of gratitude for graciously welcoming me back into the fandom! Oh, how I've missed it. I'm very glad that you all seem to have enjoyed the story so far and I'm hoping not to disappoint. (: Also, I should mention that I haven't actually watched Life with Derek in about two years and I really never watched much of the last season so I'm lacking a lot of information from there and have probably forgotten some things about the show so if I start making mistakes, please forgive but feel free to point them out!

* * *

Derek dramatically pressed both of his palms and the side of his face against the inside of the car window.

"Help. Meeeeeeee." He whimpered pitifully.

"Oh, stop it." Casey said from behind the wheel of the car. "That's just pathetic."

"No, you know what's pathetic?" Derek asked, pulling his head away from the window and turning to look at Casey. "Dragging me out of my bed while you're in some sort of psychosis!"

"I am not psychotic!" Casey cried.

"Then what do you call this?"

"This…" Casey faltered. "Well, I don't exactly have a definition for this yet. But I'm not crazy!"

"Whatever." Derek rolled his eyes. While doing so he glanced at the clock on the dashboard. "Midnight, Casey? Really? You drag me out of my room at midnight when you know I'm stocking up energy for a sleepless weekend?"

Casey gripped the steering wheel, staring straight ahead trying to hide the uncomfortable grimace on her face. Derek stared at the side of her head feeling as though he was forgetting something. He glanced at the time again and then back at Casey, letting the pieces fall together. Once realization hit, Derek turned and let his head thunk against the window once more.

"Ohhh."

"Oh, what?" Casey asked.

"It's your birthday." Derek lifted his head and shook it slowly. "It's your twenty-first birthday and you're kidnapping me.""I am not kidnapping you!"

"Excuse me, your exact words were 'you're probably going to want to be wearing pants when I _kidnap_ you from this room for the night'."

"Oh,…okay, so yeah, I did say that. But it's really not as weird as it seems." Casey assured him.

"I feel so safe now." Derek said sarcastically. "Where are you even taking me?" He asked. "Why would you even want to drag me around on your birthday, anyway?"

"You ask a lot of questions." Casey noted and then remained silent for a moment before saying, "Well here's the answer to one of your questions." As she pulled into the small parking lot in front of Lima Bean.

"You brought me to Lima?" Derek balked. "What, is Greta baking you a cake or something? Oh, I get it. She baked you a cake and no one wanted to celebrate with you so you pathetically dragged me out of bed to eat it with you. Let's get this straight, I'm not singing to you."

"No, you idiot, we're here to plan and prioritize." Casey said, unbuckling her seatbelt.

"Plan and prioritize?" Derek mumbled. And after Casey had gotten out of the car and closed the door added, "This is so bad."

Derek sullenly followed Casey into Lima, the tinkling noise of the door not sounding nearly as pleasant as it usually did. Casey led him to a table in the back corner of diner.

"Okay," Derek said after he sat down, laying his arms across the back of his chair, "Care to explain to me why you dragged me out of bed?"

"You," Casey said, "Are going to help me."

"I'm going to-Casey, what are you talking about?"

"You're going to help me." She enunciated.

"I'm going to help you?" Derek repeated slowly.

"Yep." Casey said resolutely.

"With what? What could I possibly help you with?" Derek groaned, throwing himself down on the table.

Casey was silent for a moment before saying, "You're going to help me do the things on this list."

Derek lifted his head and saw that Casey was holding a piece of paper up at him.

"Why am I not surprised that there's a list involved?" Derek murmured, mostly to himself.

"I'm twenty-one tonight, and though I don't like agreeing with anything you ever have to say, I will admit that my normal young adult experiences are…highly limited." Casey said carefully. "I've got some things I want to do, and while you're not the most appealing of companions I feel that you're probably the most, er, qualified for the job."

"Oh, this should be good." Derek said, smirking. "What's on the list?"

"You're not allowed to say anything until I finish reading the list, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay." Casey cleared her throat. "I want to go to a regular club, then a gay club and a strip club." Derek opened his mouth but pointed her finger at him and glared so he closed it. "I want to drink alcohol, meet some transvestites, get kicked out of a store. Oh, I want to leave a mean message on my ex-boyfriend's voicemail. I also want to trespass somewhere and umm, watchapornmovie."

"Wait, wait." Derek said, crossing his arms and leaning forward. "What was that last part?"

Casey began to blush. "I, uh, wanttowatchapornmovie."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you. What-"

"I want to watch a porn movie!" Casey said in a fierce whisper. "Well, at least part of one." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, avoiding eye contact with Derek.

Leaning back in his seat Derek let out a long, low whistle. "My, my, Case. That is some list you've got there."

"Don't-just don't make fun of me, okay? Just help me." Casey pleaded.

"Okay."

"Excuse me, what?"

"I said okay."

"As in…."

"As in, yeah, I'll help you."

"You will?"

"Yep."

"Really?"

"No."

"What?"

"Jeez, Case!" Derek cried. "I'm kidding."

"Oh." Casey breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Of course, helping you is never something I'm interested in doing, but you are definitely right. I'm totally qualified for this."

Casey rolled her eyes and let out a quiet snort. "So where do you want to start?" Derek asked her.

"Okay, well I was thinking-"

Greta appeared next to Casey, holding a coffee pot full of coke. She liked to serve all liquids out of coffee pots for no other reason than she liked having an array of different colored ones lined up on the ledge behind the counter. She said it added to Lima's aesthetics. "You come in here and don't say hello? What kind of crap is that?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Greta. You know I would have but I've got a crazy woman dragging me around." Derek said, tossing a look at Casey.

"It's about time a woman took the control. That's what you need, a dominant woman. No more of these floozies you're always so attracted to." Greta said, approvingly.

Both Derek and Casey blanched. "Greta!" Casey cried. "You know he's my step-brother."

"Beh," Greta said, using her hand to flippantly brush off Casey's words. "So what are you doing here, with each other so late? I've never seen you here after eight and never you without your sidekick, mister Peloski."

"Well, tonight's a special night." Derek said sarcastically.

Greta stared at them silently for a moment before saying, "Use protection." And turning to walk away.

"NO!" Both Derek and Casey cried, causing Greta to turn back around.

"No, no, no, no, no, no." Derek said.

"He meant it's my birthday." Casey said quickly. "Twenty-one. He's going to help me check stuff off on a list I have. Like go to a club and drink alcohol and stuff."

"Ah!" Greta said happily, clapping her free hand against the coffee pot. "Happy birthday, booshka!"

"Thanks, Greta." Casey smiled meekly.

"Here! Free drinks!" Greta said, pouring coke into the glasses on the table. "You make sure she has a great night." She said at Derek.

"What, no ice?" Derek asked, staring at his cup filled with lukewarm soda.

"That's for not saying hi when you came in." Greta said with a knowing smile before walking away.

* * *

Derek, who Casey had let drive her car, pulled into a parking garage about a block away from where they were headed. As they got out of the car and started walking Casey asked, "Are you sure this is the club we should go to?"

"It's the most popular one around." Derek said. "I don't get why you're even be worried about the regular club we're going to when you've still got strip and gay on that list of yours. That's when you start worrying about location."

Casey nodded, accepting Derek's answer. They walked in silence the rest of the way. Once they got closer, they could hear the music pouring out of the club. They reached near the front entrance and Casey took in the large silver metal letter cutouts that spelled out Excursion.

"Looks…" Casey said, observing the long line of people who were waiting outside the club's door. "Intense."

Derek surveyed the area and then looked at Casey. "Take off your sweater."

"Excuse me?" Casey asked, subconsciously pulling down the sleeves of her sweater.

"Take it off." Derek demanded, pulling the material at her shoulder up a bit.

"Why?" Casey asked, suspiciously.

"You need to go show the bouncer a little skin." Derek said, and after a moment of contemplation, added, "You should pull down your shirt, too."

"You're crazy!" Casey cried. "No way."

"Want the first club you ever go to not to be a shitty one?" Derek asked and Casey looked at the sidewalk. "Then push those babies out and go over there."

Casey looked up and glared at him but he glared right back so she turned away from him to remove her sweater and adjust her shirt and bra. "I can't believe I'm doing this." She murmured.

Having pulled down her shirt enough to allow ample cleavage viewing she turned around, glared at Derek again, shoving her sweater into his hands, and then strutted over to the bouncer.

"Make papa proud!" Casey heard Derek call after her.

Casey stood herself in front of the bouncer until he looked down and took notice of her.

"Hey." She attempted to purr at him. "It's my birthday and I _really_ want to get in there. Can you do anything about that?"

The bouncer's eyes flicked down to Casey's chest and right back up to her face. "Sorry." He said, "You're barking up the wrong tree with those."

Casey, unsure of what to say stared up at the bouncer for a few seconds before walking away, uncertainly.

"Fail." Derek shook his head at her when she reached him, his arms crossed around his chest.

"He- he said I was barking up the wrong tree with…these." Casey said, gesturing at her chest.

"Oh." Derek said and then after a second, "_Ohhh."_

"What?" Casey asked.

"Stay here." He said, handing her her sweater.

Casey watched as Derek walked over to the bouncer. Derek said something to the bouncer, who replied. Casey saw Derek laugh, putting his hand on the bouncer's shoulder. A few seconds later Derek lifted his hand and patted the shoulder before pulling back. He gave the bouncer a two finger salute before turning to walk back to Casey.

"Come on, loser." Derek said, nodding his head toward Excursion's entrance.

"Wha-how?" Casey asked.

"You gotta know your audience." Derek shrugged. "Now come on."

Casey began to put her sweater back on but Derek tugged her arm out of it.

"You're embarrassing enough as it is." Derek said, bunching up the sweater and handing her back the ball of fabric. "Let's not make it worse."

Casey followed him into the club, taking note of the way the bouncer smiled at Derek. She shuddered.

Once inside, Casey stopped, totally in awe. The floor was clear with tons of large glittering silver chunks embedded in it. The walls were an iridescent black that had a psychedelic effect that threw her off a little. Bright flashes of lights hit the room all around her, interchanging from strobe light lines to big circular bursts. Bodies passed all around her and through the crowd was a mass of gyrating bodies.

Derek, after realizing that Casey was no longer following him, backtracked and began to push her from behind. "Yeah, yeah. Soak it in. But keep up, will ya?"

He led her far across the large room to where the bar was. The bar top was made of the same thing as the floor.

"Two shots." Derek said to the bartender, leaning against the bar on his elbow. Casey stood in front of him looking very nervous.

"Could you stop twitching like that?" Derek asked. "People are gonna think you're about to have a seizure."

Casey grasped her sweater ball and kept her hands in front of her, trying to stop fidgeting.

"I'm nervous." Casey said, biting her lip. "But really excited!"

The bartender placed the two shots next to Derek. He picked one up and handed it to Casey and then picked up his own.

"Ready?" Derek asked. Casey nodded eagerly. "Alright, one, two, three." At three, Derek downed his shot. Casey hesitated a second or two before bringing the shot to her lips and drinking it. She grimaced and clenched her teeth. "Oh, God." Casey rasped.

"You'll get used to it." Derek assured. "But I think that's where you should leave off for now." He placed some money on the bar.

"I can pay." Casey said as the bartender scooped the bills up.

Derek ignored her. "Okay, we're at a club, you've had a shot. Does that mean we just rush out of here?"

"Uh, no." Casey said decidedly. "We can stay for a little while. It's not even one yet."

"Alright then." Derek said, sliding away from the bar and toward a group of girls covered in more glitter than clothing.

Casey rolled her eyes, leaning against the bar. "Of course." She mumbled.

"Need another shot?" The bartender asked behind her. She turned to face him.

"No thanks." She said.

"You sure?" He asked, wiping out a glass with a cloth.

Casey nodded.

"Alright. Well you should go dance. Just because your friend ditched you doesn't mean you shouldn't go have a good time."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right!" Casey agreed.

"Yeah, I am!" The bartender said enthusiastically, waving the rag at her. "Now you go and dance!"

"I will!" Casey cried. "Thanks!" She tossed her sweater onto a bar stool, then turned and headed into the crowd of people. The bartender chuckled, shaking his head as she went.

Once on the dance floor Casey felt awkward for about five seconds but then she let the music take over. She went to a familiar and comfortable place, moving her body to the beat. She knew how to do this, and she knew how to do this well. She danced, feeling totally carefree, even catching a really good looking guy watching her from across the room. She turned and smiled to herself as she continued to move to the rhythm. The bright lights flashing from the ceiling added to the atmosphere of the room. As she moved she looked around, taking in the people on the upper level of the club, some standing around with drinks in their hands, some swaying with the music, some in the beginning groping stages of hooking up.

Casey spun around and found that the cute guy she'd seen across the room was now only a few people away. He gave her a dazzling smile. Feeling confident, Casey continued to swing her hips and gave him a smile that she hoped would bring him a little closer. Sure enough the guy moved through the crowd until they were a little less than a foot apart.

"Hey." The guy said, nodding at her.

Casey did her best to look at him from under her eyelashes. They moved to the music with each other without touching. Casey lifted her arms fluidly, letting them frame her as they fell. Part way through the song Casey turned and started dancing with her back to him, turning her head to smile at him every so often. After a few more moments of dancing like this Casey felt the guy's chest on her back and feel his breath on her neck and suddenly it was no longer as fun.

"Okay, too close." Casey said loudly, turning her head to look at him, but it hardly made a difference with the music surrounding them.

"What?" The guy shouted. "You like me close?" He smirked, and not in the annoying yet endearing way she'd come to see Derek's. The guy pushed up closer behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Stop it! Stop!" Casey cried, her fingers trying to pull his hands off her but he held his grip while he traveled her body, one hand going up the side of her waist, the other settling on her hip.

Panic really began to set in when the guy started to push her forward, grinding on her to the beat of the music. She continued to struggle against her when he suddenly spun her around so that she was facing him. One of his hands rested on her ass and he leered at her. She thought she heard him murmur, "You like that?"

Casey lifted her hand and slapped him hard across the face. This only seemed to make him more determined as he leaned down and started to nuzzle her neck.

Abruptly, Casey felt herself torn away from the guy so forcefully she stumbled backwards a little but Derek was behind her and he caught her, holding her up with both hands on her upper arms.

"Are you okay?" He yelled into her ear. Wide-eyed with surprise Casey could only manage to shake her head. Derek's jaw tensed up and his eyes went dark.

"Hey, man! What the hell do you think you're doing?" The guy yelled at Derek.

Derek stepped out from behind Casey and stood chest to chest with the guy. "No, what the hell do you think _you're_ doing?"

"Don't be that hero, cock-blocking asshole." The guy shouted, shoving Derek.

"What'd you think was going to happen, date rapist?" Derek shouted, shoving him back.

The guy narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, hissing. "She wants it. She wants it bad. And I'm gonna give it to her."

Derek's fury seemed to break through like a flood of water through a cracked dam. He pulled his arm back and smashed his fist into the guy's face. People in the club, dancing around them finally seemed to notice the skirmish when the guy hit the floor.

Not hesitating, Derek turned and grabbed Casey's wrist and began to pull her away, heading toward the exit.

"This list thing is turning out to be _such a good idea." Derek shouted back at her angrily, plowing on._

"Maybe he was just drunk?" Casey said, desperately trying to find a logical reason for what had just happened.

"He wasn't drunk, Case." Derek said, looking furious while he continued to drag her away from the club. "He was a creep and an asshole who probably would have hurt you."

They had made it to the sidewalk several feet away from the club's entrance. Casey stopped, Derek still gripping her wrist. "If it wasn't for you." She said.

Derek looked at her for several moments. "Yeah. If it wasn't for me." He let his hand travel down her wrist to her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze that lasted a few seconds longer than completely necessary before letting go.

He cleared his throat, shoving his hands in his jacket pocket. "So…what's next on the list?"

* * *

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm not as fond of this one as I am of the first but I still like it a lot, hope you do too! Review and I'll kick the third chapter to you a lot quicker than this one came! :)

-Tarryn


	3. And I ran, I ran so far away

Chapter three is a go. Enjoy! (:

* * *

"What strip club are you taking me to?" Casey asked from the passenger seat of her car.

"You'll see when we get there. It doesn't really have a name." Derek said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Doesn't have a name?" Casey seemed dubious.

Instead of saying anything, Derek pulled the car in next to a parking meter and removed the keys from the ignition.

"What are you doing?"

"We're leaving the car here."

"What?"

"We're leaving the car here!"

"Why?"

"You can't have a crazy, memorable birthday adventure if we just stick to a list!" Derek answered resolutely.

"Uh, _hello!_" Casey cried, "Did you not just see what happened back at Excursion? And yet you think it's a good idea to just wander around the city on foot?"

"Hey, what I saw was me lay some creep flat. You'll be fine, I'll watch out for you."

Casey was silent for a moment, pondering on whether she should comment on what seemed like a genuinely heartfelt remark but decided against it, knowing that Derek would immediately turn it into a sarcastic joke.

"So…we leave the car?"

"Yes. You're going to soak up the city. What happens between your checklist happens." Derek nodded, removing a handful of quarters from a little change compartment next to the door before getting out of the car.

"You're paying me back for those." Casey said, opening her own door.

Derek ignored her as he slipped the quarters into the meter. "Alright, that should do it." He nodded and patted the top of the meter.

"How far is the club?" Casey asked, following Derek as he started to walk away from the car. She couldn't help but glance back at her car, desperately hoping that nothing would happen to it in her absence and that Derek had fed the meter enough quarters.

"Not far." Derek said.

"Is that an honest 'not far' or a placate Casey 'not far'?" She wanted to know.

"Not far." Derek repeated. Casey thought she could hear him smirking. She glared at the back of his head.

As she walked she unconsciously lifted a hand to her arm to pull up her sweater sleeve.

"Oh, man." Casey grumbled.

"What?" Derek asked.

"I left my sweater at the club." Casey sighed.

"Are you cold?"

"Not really. I liked that sweater. And I probably will get cold."

"Well, here." Derek said, starting to shrug out of his leather jacket.

"Oh, no. No, thanks." Casey said, holding up her hand to stop him.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Casey felt bad about rejecting Derek's fairly kind offer for a moment but that moment passed quickly and she kept walking.

They had been walking for about ten minutes when Casey felt the presence of someone behind her. As discreetly as she could she glanced behind her. There was a man obviously shadowing them. He looked no more than twenty five, with long blonde hair and a scruffy beard. He was wearing a full on pink and green golfing outfit with the plaid shorts and polo shirt. It got stranger still, with his dingy white tube socks pulled up on his legs, paired with battered black converse. Over his polo he was wearing a worn dark purple leather jacket, complete with studded epaulets. On top of his head rested a light yellow fedora.

Casey was beyond startled.

"Derek!" Casey hissed, trying to remain subtle. "Derek!"

"What?" Derek stopped.

"Weird homeless-like person is following us!" She said with wide eyes.

Derek looked confused and then turned around to see the man, who had also stopped walking and was staring right at them.

"Got a problem, buddy?" Derek asked, raising an eyebrow at the man.

Seeming completely delighted by the interaction, a smile broke across the man's face and he took the couple long strides that were necessary for him to be standing right in front of them.

"My name isn't buddy, it's Chuck, but if you were referring to the informal noun meaning comrade or chum, often a term of endearment used as a term of address, then I gladly accept your use of buddy, buddy!"

It was Derek's turn to look startled.

"Your girlfriend's real pretty." Chuck said, wide-eyed.

"I'm not his girlfriend." Casey felt the need to clarify, even in such an odd situation.

"That makes sense!" Chuck laughed hysterically for a few awkward moments. "You're an obvious 10 and he's like a 6 ½."

Casey had to bite her lip to keep from laughing and Derek shot her a glare.

Chuck stared at Derek intensely.

"What, man?" Derek asked.

"I think I knew you in the '60s." Chuck nodded.

"I wasn't alive in the 1960's." Derek said slowly.

"Neither was I, man!" Chuck laughed. "I meant the 1460's. Those days were a bitch, weren't they?"

Casey moved a little closer to Derek, placing a hand on his arm.

"Um, yeah. Totally." Derek said cautiously.

"Hey!" Chuck said abruptly after a few moments of silence. "Come with me! My friend Jim Bob is having a party. It's going to be great."

"Well, that sounds…real nice, Chuck." Derek said. "But we've got places to go."

"No, really." Chuck said, the smile disappeared from his face and was replaced with a serious stare. "You should come. We have, like, cake."

"…Cake?" Derek asked warily.

"Yeah, cake. Cake and absinthe." Chuck nodded vigorously.

"Derek." Casey whispered, gripping his arm a little tighter.

"Look! A squirrel!" Derek declared out of nowhere, pointing behind Chuck.

Chuck spun around, looking overjoyed and Derek took the opportunity to grab Casey by the arm and take off running. They were about twenty feet away when Chuck called out, "Wait, there's no squirrel!"

"It's there, keep looking!" Derek shouted out, not lessening his pace.

"Bye, Chuck!" Casey shouted, letting Derek continue to pull her along.

They had run a couple blocks before Casey reached out and grabbed Derek's arm to stop him.

"What?" Derek asked. "Do you think we lost him?"

Casey waved him off, and stayed silent for a minute, trying to breathe.

"Yeah, leaving the car was a _great_ idea." Casey said sarcastically in between pants. She doubled over, resting her forearms on her upper thighs. "Cake and absinthe, what the hell."

"Okay, I'll admit, that was weird." Derek conceded. "But come on, like that's not going to be a good story to tell later on."

Casey shot him a withering glare.

* * *

"Do you even know where we're going?" Casey asked Derek a little while later as she trudged along beside him.

"Of course I know where I'm going." Derek said, sounding offended. "What kind of amateur do you think I am?"

Derek stopped in front of an alley opening and extended his arm out. "After you."

Casey stared at him for a moment, expecting him to be joking but when Derek didn't budge her jaw went slack.

"I'm not going down that alley." Casey said, resolutely. She crossed her arms across her chest and shook her head. "I'm not."

"Oh, come on, Case." Derek nudged her with his shoulder.

"Don't _Oh, come on, Case_ me!" Casey pushed him away. "My life has already been endangered far too many times tonight!"

"May I remind you," Derek said angrily, "That _you_ asked _me_ to come with you tonight."

Casey looked about to say something and continue the argument but she stopped herself. _He's right._ She reluctantly admitted to herself, and no matter how much Derek might make her mad, she couldn't deny the fact that she'd dragged him out of bed and he'd agreed to help her have an interesting birthday.

"Ugh, fine." Casey resigned. "But if we meet a Chuck with a knife down there, I'm throwing you in front of me."

"I'd expect nothing less." Derek nodded, mocking solemnity.

Derek led her down the alley without incident and Casey followed as he turned right at the end of it. After a couple of seemingly nonsensical turns Casey asked, "What is this, a maze?"

"It's just a well kept secret." Derek said. "Don't stress."

Proving himself right, the next turn led them standing twenty feet away from a rather large building.

"See? Here we are." Derek said.

"This is a strip club?" Casey asked, looking at the plain, black painted brick building unsurely.

"Yeah, I know." Derek said, acknowledging the look of the building. "But looks can be deceiving. It's very high end, borderline a private club, but not quite. I took sociology with the guy who's dad owns the place and we partied a few times so he let me in on this little gem. Either you stumble across the place or you get told about it and the people who do know about it are generally rich or important or both and don't talk about it much, so word of mouth isn't a problem."

"Why would you take me to this one?" Casey asked.

"As strip clubs go, this one is probably the least likely to make you burst into tears from fright, so I figure it's a good starting point." Derek shrugged.

"That's surprisingly considerate of you, Derek." Casey said, smiling.

"Yep. Now, time for round two." Derek said, pointing to the large, muscular man who was standing in front of the building's door, also painted black. "Let's see if you can regain any of your lost dignity."

"Oh, yeah." Casey said sarcastically, her smile gone. "I'm totally the one who lost my dignity back there."

"Come here." Derek said, reaching for her shoulders. "Let's see if this helps at all." Derek began rolling the sleeve of Casey's shirt into a thinner strap.

"Like I'm not already cold." Casey mumbled.

"Get over it, big baby." Derek said, moving on to the next strap. "You can pull them back down when you get us in. And it's not like I didn't courteously offer you my jacket. It's not my fault you turned it down."

He managed to tug at the bottom of her shirt, pulling it down a bit before Casey slapped his hand away.

"Go on, sunshine." Derek said, smiling condescendingly.

Casey trudged away from Derek toward the doorman.

"Hey, there." Casey said, smiling when she did get up to him. "How's it going?"

The man stared at her for a moment as if reviewing her.

Finally he spoke, "You're not a regular and you don't look like this is really your kind of place so why don't you save us both the trouble and just go on home."

Casey rolled her eyes, sighing in a resigned manner.

"Are you sure?" Casey asked dryly, using her arms to push her cleavage together.

"Sweet knees, I work with those every day and every night. I'm desperately outnumbered by breasts that are unnaturally large and shiny and covered in glitter among other things that I don't want to think about too hard. Yours are no bargaining chip."

"This is so not our night." Casey grumbled in what suspiciously looked like the direction of her chest.

"But…"

"But what?" Casey asked warily.

"But…you could show me your toes."

Casey took a step back, feeling disturbed. "My-my _toes_?"

The bouncer shrugged. "So sue me, I've got a thing for toes. Wanna get into this place or not?"

"Why are you even here?" Casey pouted. "This is a strip club, they should let anyone in here at the prospect of getting money. It's like the Mecca for perverts and skeezes with access to dollar bills."

"This is a nice joint." The bouncer said with steely indifference. "We've got some of the finest ladies on this side of the border. Real classy, you know? I can't let in just anybody. Gotta keep it respectable."

Casey just stared at him.

"So, how about you slip that foot out of that shoe?"

Giving him an incredulous look, Casey backed away from the bouncer, shaking her head before turning around completely. It only took her a second to realize that she was walking toward nothing. Derek had disappeared from sight. Her eyes darted around as she continued walking, expecting to see Derek standing against a wall just out of her peripheral or something, but he wasn't anywhere.

"Derek?" Casey spun around in the spot where he had been. "Derek?"

Just as a sense of panic was really starting to build up inside of her Derek popped out from around a corner. "I'm here, I'm here." He assured. "Sheesh, Casey, it's like you actually want me around."

"Oh, shut up! You're here to make sure I don't get kidnapped." Casey said.

"Sure, sure."

"Where'd you go?" Casey asked.

"Oh, uh, I just ducked around the side of the building to see if there was another way in. So, did you get us in?"

"Um, not exactly…"

"What do you mean, not exactly?" Derek wanted to know.

Casey avoided meeting his eyes.

"Oh, Good God, Casey!" Derek cried, throwing up his arms and looking heavenward. "Really?

"He didn't want to let me in! He wanted to see my toes in exchange for entrance, and I was not showing him my toes! I'm obviously not the kind of girl who uses her, erm, physical assets to get what she wants. I'm not used to this! Maybe I don't have the, you know, goods, to work it like this."

Derek, arms crossed, looked Casey up and down appraisingly.

"No," Derek said, finally. "You may not know how to use what you've got but you've still got it. You're just getting an unlucky lot."

"Did you just-"

"Take off your shoes." Derek ordered, cutting her off.

"Wha-no!"

"Do it, or I'll do it for you!"

"I'm not standing on this ground with no shoes on!" Casey stated. "There's gum and glass and dirty and who knows what else! And I must say, I don't appreciate that you keep ordering me to take of pieces of my clothing."

Without hesitating Derek reached over and scooped Casey up, bridal style. Without seeming to have any problem, he used the hand that was holding up her lower half to snake down and pull off both of her ballet flats of her feet.

Casey refrained from commenting on his strength with the awe she felt, instead focusing on her annoyance that he had scooped her up against her will and removed her shoes.

"I am not a toy!" She yelled, smacking his shoulders. "Put me down."

"You should know how this is going to go, Casey." Derek drawled, sounding almost bored. He lessened his hold on her, letting her drop some before lifting her up in his arms again.

Casey reacted by tightening her arms around Derek's neck. "Der-ek!" She shrieked. "I don't want to be paraded around to some freak who wants to ogle my feet!"

"I'm only here to help you, Case." Derek said, smiling mockingly down at her.

Casey continued to slap at Derek while he carried her over to where the bouncer was.

"This do it for ya?" He asked, dipping Casey's head down to lift her feet up toward the bouncer.

The man leaned down to inspect Casey's feet and nodded approvingly. "So clean and dainty." He said in admiration, reaching a hand down to touch her feet.

"Ah, ah, ah." Derek admonished, turning himself and Casey's feet away from the bouncer. "Touching was not specified. Now let us in."

Looking disappointed, the bouncer opened the door the club.

"Bye" The man said, staring at Casey's feet while Derek walked through the door.

Once inside, Derek managed to slip Casey's shoes back on before tipping her onto the ground. Casey stood, unmoving, with her hands covering her face.

"It's over now." Derek said, patting her on the shoulder in what he thought might be a sympathetic gesture.

"He called me sweet knees before." Casey mumbled through her hands.

"Poor Spacey." Derek said, seeming sincere.

His kindness quickly faded, though, when he took in his surroundings. He sighed contentedly, taking in the leather booths, small tables, scantily clad waitresses, and the almost and fully nude strippers slinking around other club patrons and dancing on the large stage.

"Really, Derek?" Casey asked, taking in the dreamy look on his face.

"Trust me, Case." Derek said not tearing his gaze away from a particular patch of skin on a redhead encircling one of the poles. "You'd be appreciating this a lot more if you had a penis." And then after a moment of consideration, "Or were a lesbian."

* * *

"Well, I always wanted out of that life." A stripper with big, blonde hair confided in Casey in one of the booths. Derek watched the encounter with his head cocked to one side from a table next to the booth. "My dad wanted me to stay there on the farm and marry this boy who lived on a real live working ranch three miles away. He didn't think I could ever do anything else."

"Mmm," Casey nodded with her chin resting in her palm. "Do you think that's why you came out here and chose this profession? To get back at your dad? Prove to him that not only could you do something other than be a country bumpkin housewife but that you could choose, for yourself, something below you?"

"You think this is below me?" The stripper asked, looking at Casey with sad eyes.

"You're a smart, capable woman, Dina. You could do so much better than this. I promise you that." Casey assured.

Derek felt his eye twitch. He stood up abruptly and lunged himself toward the duo.

"Excuse us for a second. Dina was it?" Derek placed his hand on Casey's arm.

"Mmhmm." Dina nodded and smiled at him. She would have seemed like a sweet girl next door had it not been for the fact that all she had on was a small triangle of silver fabric covering her lower region and two shiny purple lightening bolts over her nipples. Not including the large quantities of body glitter smeared all over her.

Derek smiled politely at her as he pulled Casey out of her seat and dragged her away.

"What is your problem?" Casey asked when Derek let go of her arm.

"What is my problem?" Derek echoed. "What is _your_ problem?"

"What do you mean?" Casey asked innocently.

"I mean, why are you psychoanalyzing the very hot stripper?" He wanted to know. "You're putting thoughts inside of her pretty little aerosol encrusted head. Thoughts don't belong there. If thoughts belonged there, God would have put them there. Obviously this is where she was meant to be. So stop it."

Casey gave him an disbelieving look. "You are such a bigot."

Derek threw his head back and groaned. "Ugh, I thought we'd established that already."

"You are unbelievable!" Casey cried.

Derek looked at her again and after a moment he began to grin.

Derek's grin made Casey nervous. "What? Why are you smiling like tha-"

"My love muffin!" A voice suddenly cried from behind her and she let out a scream as she felt arms wrap themselves around her waist and lift her off of the ground. Casey slapped at the arms holding her. "Put me down, you creep!"

"Aw, I've missed you, too!" Adam said as he placed Casey back on the ground.

"What are you doing here?" Casey demanded to know.

"Derek called me." Adam shrugged. Derek responded by shoving into Adam's side.

Derek then looked up at Casey and shrugged. "Come on, I was being a good friend. I couldn't deny him this."

Casey rolled her eyes, fuming. "So that's where you went before."

"Yeah, well I had to find a pay phone since someone pushed me out of my room before I could grab my cell phone."

"How'd you get in?" Derek asked, turning to his friend.

Adam shrugged again. "Dude outside wanted to see my toes. I was like, _helllllll no. _So I slipped him a five rather than one of my little piggies."

"You disgust me." Casey scoffed.

"I'll disgust you all night if we can find a room or a comfortable spot on the floor." Adam winked at her.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Derek wanted to know, ignoring Adam's comment.

"I grow wings whenever the chance to go to a strip club comes up." Adam answered seriously. "It's like God knows, and sends them down for me to help me get there."

"You two were born to find each other." Casey grumbled.

"Don't pretend you're not glad to see me, Casey." Adam smiled.

"Ugh." Casey groaned, turning and stomping away.

"I appreciate your existence, man." Derek said to Adam.

"And I yours." Adam smiled. "And I yours."

* * *

Casey sat in one of the booths, swirling a straw in her small glass of ginger-ale, carefully trying to avoid any skin to skin contact with her surroundings when Derek plopped down next to her.

"Wow." Derek said. "You are _boring_."

"Don't you have an STD to catch?" Casey wondered.

"There are no more uncharted waters on that front so it's lost it's luster." Derek joked.

"Where's Adam?" Casey inquired.

"Last I saw a stripper was pulling him through that door." Derek pointed at a door not too far from them.

"Gross." Casey shuddered.

"So what exactly was the plan for this one?" Derek asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not complaining about being here, I just don't get why you'd _want_ to be here. Or what you'd want to do."

"I don't know!" Casey admitted, making sure to keep her arms tucked in closely. "I guess I just wanted to come here because it's not something I would ever really do. Who would think I'd come here?"

"No one." Derek agreed. "But I don't get it. You've never been the person who _wanted_ to do stuff like this."

"Maybe I'm tired of the person I am."

Derek furrowed his brows at Casey who, for once, wasn't looking away. But before he could say anything a loud stream of expletives could be heard clearly coming from behind the door Adam had disappeared through. They both twisted around to look in that direction. Seconds later Adam burst through the door, the buttons on his shirt done incorrectly and only done in the middle. He stumbled towards them, the hair on one side of his head sticking up in a wicked cowlick.

"She wanted me to pay for sex!" Adam yelped. "I didn't even go back there for sex! She said 'intimate massage'! INTIMATE MASSAGE!" He screamed back toward the room he just ran from. "I can get that shit for free."

"Come back, you little bitch!" The stripper Adam had gone with appeared in the doorway across from them.

"Time to go." Adam said decisively. Derek and Casey nodded in agreement before they all took off running.

"Oh, no you don't!" The stripper called, following them.

They all diverged in different paths, Casey weaving through people and furniture while Adam chose to jump over things and push people over. Derek was sprinting across the stage, staggering amongst strippers. The stripper they were running from lunged over a booth and managed to tackle Adam feet away from the exit. Casey got to the door first and reached to open it but Derek came skidding behind her and grabbed her arm, jerking her in the direction of Adam.

"What do we do?" Derek asked frantically as he watched the stripper pull his best friend into standing position.

"Oh, God." Casey fumed. "I can't believe this." She stomped over to Adam and the stripper and yanked him from her grasp. Adam went tumbling backward. As Derek bent to help Adam up, the stripper screamed, "Bitch!" at Casey.

Furious with the situation, Casey uncharacteristically shouted back, "Slut!"

The stripper pulled her arm back and tried to punch Casey but she jumped out of the way and, without thinking, pulled her own arm back and slammed her fist into the woman's left breast. The shock of it distracted the stripper long enough for Derek to grab at the back of Casey's shirt and pull her forward. Without hesitating any longer, the trio took off and pushed through the exit.

"Yeah, real classy place!" Casey managed to yell at the bouncer as they ran past him and away from the strip club.

"Come back here!" The bouncer shouted.

"Suck my toe!" Casey cried.

"Yeah, that's smart. Give him _more_ incentive to catch us." Derek exclaimed.

* * *

Sooo, yeah! That happened. And now that that has happened you should review and tell me what you think. (: And yeah, I feel like my characters may have strayed a little into the OOC territory, but I'm hoping not too much. I'm not sure how Casey would react, but I figure that it's already been a mind-boggling night from her, to which all her arguments with Derek can't quite compare, and she has to have a real limit somewhere. Too bad for her this night's not over =)

-Tarryn


	4. It takes skill to do like I do

Okay, so I've got to give my SINCEREST apologies for making you guys wait so long for this chapter. I was at the tail-end of my senior year the last time I updated and now I am a high school graduate and things are starting to settle down some, so now (hopefully) I'll be writing more! And now, a huge thank you to everyone who has been reading, reviewing, and patiently waiting. You guys are AMAZING! Thank you for taking such interest in my story!

* * *

"I cannot even tell you," Casey panted, "How tired I am of having to run away."

Ignoring Casey's anger, Derek stared at her in awe, breathing heavily. "Jesus, Casey! Where'd that come from back there?"

"Yeah!" Adam cried, leaning on Derek's shoulder. "Who knew you had it in you?"

Casey glared at them both. "Shut up."

"I wonder if you popped her implant." Derek mused.

"Bro, that'd be so awesome!" Adam lifted his hand to high five his friend.

Derek halfheartedly attempted to meet Adam's palm with his own but gave up and just plopped himself down onto the sidewalk. Adam immediately followed suit, throwing himself across the pavement with no regard to the people walking down it. They gingerly stepped over him, giving polite but awkward smiles to Casey who had chosen to lean against a tree.

"Shut up." Casey groaned again, kicking some of the rocks from the planter that the tree was in in the direction of the guys.

"Hey, I am your number one fan." Adam puffed, slightly lifting his head to look at Casey. "Don't down on your number one fan."

"If you're my number one fan, then I need to seriously reevaluate my life." Casey said.

The three huffed in silence for a few minutes, letting themselves catch their breath and think over the events that had just occurred.

"Do you want to go to another strip club?" Derek asked suddenly.

"Are you kidding me?" Casey wanted to know. "Is it because you didn't get a lap dance before Adam almost got himself killed?"

"Hey," Adam said, holding up both his hands. "She seemed like a nice lady."

"No," Derek scowled. "Because all you did was sit there. What kind of experience is that? Going to a strip club to prove that you can really means nothing if you do nothing with the experience. We can go to one of the good ol' crappy ones that have hicks and skeeves and a 24 hours buffet with old buffalo wings!"

Casey chose not to respond.

Feeling unnoticed from the ground Adam waved his arms wildly. "I do, I do!"

"Well, of course you do." Derek said. "That's not even the question."

"Come on!" Adam whined. "Let's do it! What's stopping us?"

"My inherent need for self preservation?" Casey suggested.

"Who needs self preservation," Derek wondered aloud, "When there are chicken wings?" He shot up and pulled Adam to his feet.

"I don't feel safe." Casey enunciated at Derek, leaning toward him.

"What do you want me to say? We'll buy you a Snuggie later or something. Come on!" Derek motioned to start moving.

Casey glared at both Derek and Adam for a few moments before her shoulders slumped and she groaned, "Fine!" Before pulling herself away from the tree.

"Yes!" Adam cried, extending the S sound for several seconds before ending the word. He jumped up and gave one fist pump before turning around. "I know just where we're going!" Adam said, turning his head to look at Casey and Derek. "Follow me." He began skipping down the sidewalk.

"Why?" Casey asked, looking up at the sky.

Derek shook his head and pushed on the small of Casey's back, urging her to move forward. After a few minutes of walking, in which Adam had yet to cease skipping, Casey stopped and tilted her head to the side.

"You know what I just thought of?" Casey asked Derek.

"What?"

"Adam and Chuck would probably would have gotten along _really_ well."

Derek couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

"Now _this_ is a strip club." Derek smiled from where he was standing just a few steps inside the entrance. "Cheap seats, a buffet, no need to bribe the bouncer to get in, and a lovely sheen of grease on everything!" As he smiled contentedly Casey appeared to be trying to shrink into herself.

"A midget!" Adam cried out, sounding intensely excited. He began to lunge forward so that he could shoot across the room to where the midget stripper was but Derek caught him with a tight grip to the shoulder.

"Nuh uh. No way." Derek shook his head. "I already learned my lesson when it comes to you and midgets and we are _not_ going there again, you hear me?"

Adam looked like a scolded puppy dog. His shoulders slumped as his bottom lip jutted out. "But-"

"No buts." Derek said. "This is for your own good." He stepped behind his friend and, with a hand on either shoulder, steered him in the direction of some seats, away from the midget.

Casey silently followed, not knowing what to make of the situation. She settled down in a seat between Derek and Adam.

"You look like you were just told soylent green was after eating a sandwich of it." Derek noted.

"I, uh-" Casey tried to formulate a way to describe how disturbed she was by the entire situation, but in the end all she could come up with was, "I think they prefer to be called little people."

Derek gave her a blank stare for a moment before laughing. "I pity you." He said.

For the next twenty minutes Casey carefully sipped on a beer that Adam had insisted on ordering her. She found herself with her back to Derek as he got a lap dance form a stripper originally named Candy, who had blood red dyed hair that was pulled up in pig tails, and snake bite piercings below her bottom lip. This allowed Casey to watch as Adam munched on his chicken wings, seemingly content to watch all the women from afar but now got suddenly very defensive and guarded if any of them approached him, once even throwing a dollar bill at a woman, telling her it was for if she would take five steps away from him.

"I was ruined tonight, Casey." Adam said mournfully. "I'll never be able to sleep with a stripper. They've officially been delegated to look but _never_ touch status in my mind. Like rattlesnakes. Or monkey bars."

"Or cacti." Casey suggested.

Adam gave her a look as if she were crazy, "Cacti doesn't belong in that group." Adam shook his head and looked away, mumbling, "Obviously."

Casey chose not to respond.

"Alright, party people!" A voice called out over the club. Everyone took notice of the stripper standing at the front of the stage with a microphone. "It's time for our monthly amateur competition!" There was a speckling of hollers around the room. "For any virgins," the woman waggled her eyebrows suggestively, "to the club or it's traditions, here's how this works: Two hundred bucks taken out of our, "she gestured at her fellow strippers, "hard earned money over the last month and has been collected and now it's up for grabs. Any of the ladies that are here tonight-ladies _only_- are welcomed up here to face the pole!" She turned sideways and held out her arm to the stripper pole in the center of the stage. "The amateur who does the best gets the cash, simple as that! Now come on up!"

There was a surprising, but not an overwhelming, amount of women in the strip club that didn't actually work there, and it seemed that most of them were getting up and forming a line at the stairs of the stage. Casey watched in odd fascination as she watched the women of all different shapes, colors, styles, and states of undress step up, ready to straddle a pole in hopes of making some money.

"200 bucks is a good deal for going up on a pole." Adam leaned closer to Casey. "I think you could bag it without a sweat."

"I am not going up there." Casey shook her head. "This is just a sad situation."

"You're hotter than everyone in here." Adam nudged her shoulder. "Take a chance. It's only a few minutes out of your life."

Casey shot him the obligatory look of disgust but couldn't help but think about what he had said. She shifted in her seat slightly and Adam whispered, "Do it! Do it! Do it!" His face getting closer to hers as he said it.

Casey sat resolutely with her arms crossed, determined to ignore Adam. But, she knew, her will power wasn't at it's strongest tonight, and Adam's face was inches from her ear, still chanting, working her nerves quickly and efficiently.

"Fine!" Casey cried. She shot up out of her seat but turned to look at Adam with some doubt. "Only a few minutes, right?"

"Do it!" Adam yelled with a smile.

Before she could lose her nerve Casey let out a deep breath and sprinted up toward the stage.

"No." Derek shook his head, his voice full of disbelief. "No freaking way! She isn't getting up there!"

A grin so large it almost seemed inappropriate had spread across Adam's face. "Oh, yes. Yes she is."

Derek soaked in the situation for a moment as he watched Casey line up with a group of other girls as they lined up on the edge of the stage. As the first woman, who was maybe twenty six with a big piece of belly button jewelry, walked towards the pole, Derek shot up.

"She isn't getting up there!" Derek repeated, but this time he sounded disconcerted and determined.

Adam leaned forward and shot out his arm. With his hand pushing against Derek's chest, trying to keep him from marching up to the stage and pulling Casey down, he said, "Hey, man, chill. It's just for fun. And she's got the most clothes on out of everyone up there so she's not going to look like-" he paused and both he and Derek tilted their heads to the side as belly button chick tried, unsuccessfully, to wrap her leg around the pole. Her skin made an odd squeaking noise as it rubbed against the metal as she tried to slide down it. "That." He finished with a grimace.

"Besides," Adam shrugged once Derek sat back down, "It's Casey. I think she's gonna look hot but she might end up embarrassing herself and when have you ever shirked away from an opportunity to let Casey embarrass herself?"

Derek's head snapped towards Adam. He stared at his friend who was gazing up at the stage with a dopey smile on his face, intently. Something about his statement gave him the overwhelming urge to argue it, but he knew that he couldn't and that bugged him. It was true, he loved to put Casey in weird situations and watch her embarrass herself and he probably always would. But hearing Adam say it and actually thinking about it made him uncomfortable about it for once.

"Hey, man. She's up." Adam announced, slapping Derek's shoulder without looking away from the stage.

Derek turned and looked up until Casey's hand touched the pole. Immediately he shut his eyes.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Adam asked. "Open your eyes!"

"It feels wrong!" Derek declared, fighting the urge to put his hands over his eyes as well.

"Your face is wrong!" Adam said, "Now don't be a pansy!"

Derek sighed but opened his eyes.

Casey looked extremely hesitant but wrapped her hands around the pole in a spot above her head. She took in a visibly deep breath with her eyes shut tight. Derek could tell she was extremely nervous and could perfectly imagine her voice rapidly speaking the thoughts flowing through her head, all preoccupied with the crowd and the pole and how embarrassing this entire thing was. Still, Casey was always the determined type, so Derek wasn't at all surprised when she opened her eyes and didn't dart off stage. Instead she gave a small jump, lifting herself up on the pole, allowing her legs to wrap around the pole in a manner not unlike what the belly button woman had tried to do.

Unlike that woman, though, Casey managed to do this gracefully and with massive amounts of allure and appeal. She let herself slide down some before letting go of the pole with one and leaning backwards. Her dancing background was definitely giving her a one up here. The crowd within the club cheered and whistled, urging her on. Surprised by the encouragement, a small smile flashed across her face.

Derek desperately wanted to shut his eyes again as Casey hopped off the pole and circled it, letting her fingertips seductively trace the metal as she went, taking a moment to dip down slowly, her hand now trailing down the pole. Next to him, he heard Adam start to cough uncontrollably. He let himself glance at his friend for only a few seconds to see that he had been taking a sip of his drink when Casey decided to do that, before turning his attentions back to his step-sister. It was obvious that her confidence was growing more with each passing second as the rowdy men of the crowd became more and more excited with her amateur performance. In one final move, she pulled herself back onto the pole, as high as she could get herself, wrapped one leg around it, and then spun herself around the pole with one leg and arm raised out. She slid with incredible precision that made sweat appear on Derek's brow.

Once she moved away from the pole and to the group of girls who had already gone, the other performances were understatedly underwhelming. So it was really no surprise when an establishment employed stripper announced that after careful consideration among the club's other employees and observation of the crowd's reactions, that Casey was the winner.

The men in the club hooted loudly as Casey stepped up very nervously. The stripped handed Casey a large, rubber-band bound wad of cash. As Adam cheered loudly next to him, Derek observed as Casey carefully took the money from the stripper, giving her a gracious smile. He didn't miss how she tried very hard to only touch the rubber band, and not the money. After two strip clubs, it was obvious that all the places a dollar bill ended up hadn't been lost on her.

The clapping continued as Casey climbed down the steps of the stage and slowly began to dissipate as she neared Derek and Adam. When she got close, Adam shot up, still clapping for her. Unsure why, Derek stood up too. Once Casey was in front of them she carefully put the wad of bills into her pocket. She looked up and caught Derek's eyes. Looking into his eyes she began to feel kind of ashamed, like she had just done something terrible. She wanted to look away but found that she couldn't-she wanted to see if that's how he was trying to make her feel. But she didn't think she saw any judgment there. Actually, she thought she saw-she thought she saw something that looked like awe.

"Holy shit." Adam said, breaking the brief, albeit _intense_, awkwardness between Casey and Derek. "That was incredible."

Casey looked away from Derek, from both of them, and stared at the ground. Color began to creep across her already slightly flushed cheeks. "Yeah?"

Adam gave her a slack-jawed "are you kidding me?" type of look, which she glanced up to see. "Casey," he said slowly, "You were so good that we should probably get you out of here before you're either recruited or shot by one of the girls who actually work here."

"Why would I get shot?" Casey asked, confusion clouding her features.

Adam rolled his eyes dramatically and draped his arm across her shoulder. "Because," he said, as if what he was telling her was the most obvious thing in the world, "You're totally major competition, lady. You'd pull in the big bucks, and that'd be taking away from all of their silicone funds."

Casey couldn't help but laugh as she let Adam steer her away from the seats in the direction of the club doors. Derek stood unmoving for a moment, not sure which odd emotion he should focus on first; the one buzzing in his brain about Casey's performance or the one pondering over why he couldn't speak when she came off the stage.

Or maybe the one that centered on that little bubble of…what was it-Anger? Protectiveness? …._Jealousy? _that was bubbling inside of his chest as he watched Casey laugh with Adam's arm around her.

Instead, he decided to just ignore all of it, and catch up with Casey and Adam. He didn't quite mean to bump his way in between them when he did, knocking Adam's arm away. Not _really,_ anyway. Still, the gesture earned him a slight glare from Adam. Casey didn't seem to notice any of it.

They managed to make it out of the strip club without incident. No crazy homeless guys, weird bouncers, or stripper punching. They walked in stride for a few moments before Derek and Casey settled into a slower stride than Adam who ended up several paces ahead of them.

Silence settled between the two as they walked along, not quite going anywhere in particular, mostly just following the direction that Adam kept going. Derek noticed Casey rub her hands over her arms and considered suggesting she take his jacket again, but decided against it, figuring that now that the option had been given to her she could ask for it if she really wanted it.

"Hey," Derek said to Casey, clearing his throat after a moment, "You did a really, uh, good job."

"Um, thanks." Casey said, looking uncomfortable. She patted her pocket, "Well earned birthday money right here."

"Consider it your birthday present from me." Derek joked, knocking his shoulder into hers gently, breaking up some of the tension in the air.

"Trust me," Casey said quietly, giving him a small smile, "That's not my gift from you."

Derek took a moment, allowing himself to feel a bit flattered before speaking. "There's more to come." Derek smirked. "By the end of this, you might be a fully functioning normal twenty-one year old. You'll have to write a speech completely dedicated to me about it."

Casey rolled her eyes but before she could counter with a quip of her own, Adam shouted "WOO-HOO!" loudly from in front of them as he ran across the street while the cross-walk light was still shining a glowing hand at them. He darted in front of incoming cars, and once he reached the other side of the street, he did a jump-kick in the air. "I'm a rock star, baby!" He screamed.

"His dad told me that he dropped him in the pool when he was a baby." Derek said to Casey as an explanation when they reached the end of the street. Derek began walking out into the street.

"What are you doing?" Casey cried at him. He turned, and she pointed at the light that still told them not to cross. Derek rolled his eyes, jumping back to the curb as a car neared him.

"Oh, come on, Casey. You just bagged two hundred bucks on a stripper pole but you won't walk across the street?"

"I'm not jaywalking." Casey shook her head.

"Casey," Derek said, "Come on. This night's not over."

Without thinking, Derek held out his hand to Casey. She hesitated for a few moments, staring at his open palm. Her eyes traveled up to meet his. Then Casey reached out and let him take hold of her hand. He led her out across the street.

* * *

Okay, so I think this chapter was a little shorter than usual. Also, I don't feel like it's one of my finer chapters, but I hope you guys still enjoyed it. Nothing new was crossed off the list, though! I wonder what kind of hijinks these kids will end up in during chapter five! Also, if there are any blatant grammatical errors scattered throughout the chapter, I apologize. I attempted to read through this several times, but it is now 3:30 a.m. and I really just want to update this thing for you guys, so I might have missed some stuff. So I'm sorry, just in case!

It's kind of funny, as I've been writing this I've started picturing Adam as Andrew Lee Potts from Syfy's Alice and Primeval. And I love him so much that it's actually making me want something to happen between Adam and Casey because when I think of Andrew I lose all sense! But my OTP is DASEY. (must remember this, _must remember this). *sigh*_

Review!


	5. Grace, elegance and jealousy

As soon as Derek and Casey made it across the street he pulled his hand out of hers as easily as he had taken it.

Adam was hopping up and down on the sidewalk, punching at the air as if he were boxing someone. "What are we doing now? Everything is so exhilarating. I knew you were beautiful, Casey, but I had no idea you were so much fun!"

"Well, I'm not even too sure where we are anymore. So…." Casey said, ignoring Adam.

They stood in silence for a few minutes-Adam kept jumping-until Derek reached out and put his hand on Adam's shoulder, stilling him, and spoke.

"Oh, I know where we're going next. I definitely know."

"Are you sure you can do this?" Derek asked and then immediately held out his palm to Adam's face. "Not you. I know you can do this."

"I can do this." Casey assured.

"This takes dedication," Derek said. "You've got to be committed to this or else it won't work and it won't be fun. You want this to be fun, right?"

"Yes," Casey nodded enthusiastically. "Fun, that's what I want."

Derek placed a hand on either of her shoulders. "I believe in you, McDonald." Casey nodded again, resolutely, her brow furrowed and her lips pouted into the classic determined Casey look. Derek removed his hands before he succumbed to the urge to lift his hand up and push some of her hair behind her ear.

"Alright! Let's move out, gang!" Derek raised his hand over his head and motioned towards the store front twenty feet away from them, ushering Adam and Casey to follow him towards it.

A little bell tinkled once Derek opened the door. He paused and took a deep breath. "You smell that?" he asked.

"Wasn't me." Adam said, immediately.

Derek ignored him. "That, my friends, is the smell of a store open 24 hours a day. This place has everything you could possibly need on short notice, and now it has us. Be free!"

Adam immediately beelined for the small mens clothing section of the 24 hour mega convenient mart, taking special interest in a randomly placed female mannequin that stood amongst the male ones. Casey watched as he began to drag the mannequin out from it's place. She turned to make a comment to Derek, but he was no longer beside her.

Casey took a deep breath before resolutely heading towards the area that had women's clothing. She knew exactly what she wanted to do. It was something she had always scolded Lizzie for doing as a child. Smiling to herself, she glanced around her to make sure no one was watching before she dipped in between the clothing hanging from the circular rack and crouched down in the middle of it.

Several minutes passed and Casey contemplated sitting cross-legged, as her legs were beginning to cramp. She also pondered if she should just find something else to do-no one seemed to be coming past. Casey peeked out through the clothes again and finally saw someone heading toward to her rack, and it seemed like she'd hit the jackpot. A snobby looking woman of about sixty, wearing a very fake looking fur wrap was fingering clothing with a look of disdain, as if she had expected to find high end, designer clothes in the 24 hour mart.

Casey bided her time silently until the woman was standing right in front of her hiding spot. She hesitated for a moment, thinking about backing out, but then she thought of the things she'd already done tonight. She could do _this_. She shoved her head out through the clothes, letting out a yell as she grabbed the woman's ankles.

"Oh my God!" The woman shouted. With a hand over her heart, she gave Casey a baffled look. "What in Lord's name are you doing down there?"

"I," Casey said matter of factly. "Am having fun."

"Wretched child." The woman shook her head at Casey.

"Oh, yeah. Cuz you're the picture of class, here in a convenient mart after 2 a.m." Casey rolled her eyes.

The woman's eyes narrowed at Casey but instead of responding she slowly walked away, without taking her eyes off Casey.

Casey just chuckled and lowered herself back into the clothes, spending the next few minutes entertaining herself by grabbing at people's ankles as they passed. Most of them screamed and only one tried to kick her. She was seated on the curved metal bar in the rack when she heard a terrible wailing that sounded suspiciously like Adam.

Casey popped up so that she was standing up in the middle of the circular clothes rack and searched until she heard where the wailing was coming from. Not at all surprised at what she was seeing, Casey lifted her hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. Adam had one of his legs wrapped around the mannequin and seemed to be doing a pretty good job at making himself cry. Two staff members were standing near him, looking unsure of what to do. Casey could tell that they were both desperately searching their minds for the correct protocol for something like this.

"No!" Adam cried out. "I won't leave her! I won't leave you!" He turned his head and looked at the mannequin. One of his hands stroked it's cheek. "We're gonna be together forever, Dolly! I promised you the world and damn it! I'm gonna give you the world!"

Casey choked on her own laughter. Adam was speaking in a troublesomely accurate southern accent.

"Sir, you're going to need to let go of the mannequin." One of the staff said to Adam hesitantly. She looked worried that at any minute he may turn his affections onto someone breathing.

"Dolly!" Adam screamed out. "Her name is Dolly!"

Casey looked around, trying to find where Derek was. After a minute of searching, she found him. He was sitting, Indian style, on top of the check out counter, holding a bright pink pillow in the shape of a star with the words HANNAH MONTANA emblazoned onto them.

"Get off the counter!" A person who appeared to be the register worker was glaring up at him.

"You get off the counter." Derek mumbled.

"Miss? What are you doing?" Casey turned her head. The guy staring at her was wearing a nametag on his vest that titled him as "Craig". He was a good looking guy maybe only a few years older than Casey. The type who would go from a 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. shift and go straight to a party. Normally, Casey would become completely shy and polite, but tonight was not normal. She glanced over at Derek and saw that he was looking right at her. He gave a slight nod, urging her to do something. Casey took a deep breath, giving herself a second to step completely outside of her comfort zone. Then she gave Craig a huge grin.

"Craig!" She cried out, ducking out from under the clothes rack. She jumped forward and wrapped her arms around him. "It's been too long!"

Once she leaned back she saw the confused look on his face. "Uh, I'm sorry, ma'am. I don't think I know who you are."

Casey gasped dramatically. "What?" She placed a hand over her heart. "It's me, uh," she racked her brain for a name, "Regina!"

"Regina." He repeated uncertainly. "I'm sorry, I really don't-"

"I can't believe this!" Casey screamed. "How can you not remember me?" She grabbed a hold of his hand and lifted it up to her cheek. "We spent all of those camp-firey nights together! You whispered to me, 'Reggie, someday we'll find each other again. And when that day comes, I'm gonna sweep you up into my arms and carry you all the way to closest McDonald's and give you the feast a princess such as you deserves! Then we'll go to Vegas and, well, you should know what you said! But I don't see no sweepin'!"

Craig desperately tried to yank his hand from Casey's grasp. "I've never been to camp!" He cried.

Casey was thinking of what she could do next when she heard Derek scream, "This is my store, bitches!" He was now standing on top of the check out counter, bare chested. He had both his hands above his head, one holding the pillow, the other swinging his shirt.

Seconds later there was a crash from another part of the store. Adam was writhing around on the floor with the broken pieces of the mannequin. It appeared that they had both fallen. Adam was crying, holding on to one of the disconnected legs.

Casey felt Craig slip his hand out of her grasp and then place it firmly on her wrist. She looked up at him and he gave her a knowing look. "Let me guess. You're with them?" He asked.

Casey gave him a sheepish look.

"Come on." He said, sounding tired by the situation. "Let's get you and your friends out of here."

Casey mocked pondering for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't think so."

"Excuse me?" Craig asked.

"Well, I mean, you heard him." Casey said, pointing at Derek, who was now fist pumping. "This is his store, so surely I don't have to leave."

Craig went from looking tired of the situation to looking highly annoyed.

"You're really gonna keep playing this game?" He asked.

Casey smiled and nodded resolutely.

"Fine." He said, and before Casey knew what was happening, Craig had reached in and scooped her up. Finding herself in his arms, bridal style, she had flashbacks of Derek picking her up earlier. She came to the quick conclusion that this experience was definitely the less enjoyable of the two.

"What do you think you're doing?" Casey asked in a shrill shriek as Craig began to walk toward the store's doors. "You could get fired for this, buddy! Putting hands on a customer liked this!"

"You're at a 24 hour mart after 2 a.m. Staff rules get kind of lenient around this time." Craig gave a quick, glaringly fake smile.

They reached the doors just as two other staff members were escorting Adam out, one holding either of his arms. When Adam saw Craig carrying Casey he pulled himself out of their grips. "Hey!" he shouted, "Get off her!"

Craig rolled his eyes and tipped Casey out of his arms, a little too carelessly for Casey's liking. She stumbled and Adam reached out and steadied her.

"Out." The oldest of the staff members said, pointing at the doors.

"Yeah, yeah." Adam mumbled, putting his arm around Casey and guiding her out the doors. "Oh, and if you were wondering, I most definitely _did not_ shove each and every one of your hand towel selection down my pants. _Did not._" Adam grinned at the disgruntled looking workers over his shoulder.

"Adam!" Casey hissed once the doors had closed behind them.

"Don't worry, my dear," Adam said, rubbing his hand reassuringly over Casey's shoulder, "I only had eye's for Dolly in there. But I bet they're freaking out."

Derek was physically shoved out of the store only a minute or two after Adam and Casey were led out. He wore a triumphant look, but still no shirt.

"Well, gang, I'd say that was a success!"

Adam wandered to the sidewalk and sat himself down on the curb. Casey and Derek followed, Derek pulling his shirt over his head as he did. Casey did her best not to take one last look.

"Maybe I should be an actor." Adam mumbled from the ground. "I mean, that was amazing. I'm amazing. I could have gotten like…whadaya call it? A Grammy for that performance. I am the ish, fo real."

"Oscar, Adam." Casey shook her head.

"Casey," Adam said in a serious tone, looking up at her, "My name is Adam, not Oscar. You even just acknowledged that yourself. Are you okay? Did that guy hit your head when he picked you up?"

Casey just snorted and rolled her eyes but Derek immediately said, "What? Who picked Casey up?"

"One of the guys that work there," Adam said, jerking his head in the direction of the store. "I was busy getting dragged out by two idiots to see what happened, but I'm guessing that Casey stood her ground and the guy picked her up and carried her to the doors."

"Are you kidding me?" Derek asked, looking livid. "He shouldn't be able to do that. We should go back and talk to a manager about that."

"Whoa, whoa," Casey said, raising her palm to Derek, "That's not necessary. I mean, we went in there to purposefully get kicked out. And he didn't hurt me. I mean, I was annoyed by it, but actually he was pretty cute, so I really have no right to complain."

This did not make Derek look any less angry.

Before Derek could march back to the store and try to get the guy fired (_Oh, so he's cute so that just gives him the right to put his hands all over her_, racing through his head) a cab pulled up in front of them. The three of them watched as the driver rolled down the passenger side window.

"You kids need a ride?" The cab driver asked.

"We don't know where we're going." Adam replied from the curb.

"Are you guys homeless or something?"

"No, sir, definitely not." Casey shook her head. "We're college students."

"Not ready to head back to the dorm, I s'pose." The man chuckled. "Well, hop in. I think I know an interesting place for you to explore for now."

Derek looked at Casey for approval and then shrugged and said, "Sure, why not?" as he reached for the door handle. Adam caught his sleeve.

"What if he's a murderer? Or a pervert? Or a murdering pervert?" He whispered.

"Seriously, Adam?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, come on, Adam. The worst this guy is gonna do is drive us in circles and jack up the ride's cost. He's just a cabdriver. Get up." Casey said.

"Excuse me for being distrusting." Adam replied as he pushed himself from the curb, "But I'm not feeling too faithful in mankind tonight. A stripper _did_ try to kill me, remember?"

"You'll get over it." Casey assured him, grabbing him by his shirt collar and pulling him into the cab after Derek and herself.

The cabdriver (who's name turned out to be Lester, which sent a fresh wave of fear through Adam as he hissed, "_Lester the molester"_ over and over until Casey punched his shoulder and Derek reminded him that the usual phrase was Chester, anyway), wasn't a murderer or a pervert. He chatted amiably with the trio and laughed as the told him of the night's adventures.

"Ah, to be young and…weird." He told them.

Ten minutes later he pulled over in front of a gated off street. "Have fun, kids." Lester said, taking the fare from Adam who, now being convinced of Lester's pure intentions, insisted on paying.

Once they got out of the cab they stood in front of a street filled with people and different music coming from all directions. Booths lined up on the sidewalks and in the street itself, and lights were strung up around the telephone poles. It went on as far as they could see, and it seemed that it may continue on other streets as they watched people come and go around corners.

"What is this?" Casey breathed. A little puff of her exhalation appeared in front of her.

"Some street fair, I guess. Actually, I think I've heard of it before. They hold it once a month, I think. A girl asked me to come with her once but it was on a weekday that month and it was too far to hold much interest for me." Derek explained.

"Wow," Casey said, mesmerized as a girl twirled around not too far from where she was standing, waving glow sticks above her head. The lights seemed to create pictures in the air before catching up with their source.

"Shouldn't something like this be closed so late?" Adam said. He was chewing on a celery stick, staring glow stick girl's bare midriff.

"Where'd you get that?" Casey asked. Adam shrugged. "Some guy over there was passing them out," he said, pointing behind him without taking his eyes off the girl. "They're handing out all sorts of free stuff out here."

Casey grimaced at the celery.

"Don't look so disapproving," Adam said after he turned to look at Casey. "At least I said no to the fish taco."

"Well, there's always that." Casey said in feigned agreement before looking back out in front of her. "This is really, really cool."

"Not cool enough, I guess. I mean, it didn't make it on your all important birthday list." Derek smirked, nudging Casey with his shoulder.

"You're the one who said we shouldn't just stick to the list." Casey reminded him.

Derek shrugged. A guy shoved a pamphlet into his arms as he passed, not even looking at Derek. Bewildered, Derek stared after the guy before looking down at the pamphlet. "Oh, jeez." He said. Casey moved closer to him to see what it was.

Half of it was dedicated to veganism, showing explicit pictures of chickens being killed, and dirty, sad looking pigs, packed tightly in a pen with no room to move. The other half advertised a strip club.

"Well, this is classy." Derek said. Casey had covered her eyes when she'd seen the pictures of the animals.

"Make it go away, make it go away!" She cried, horrified.

Derek smirked and tucked it in his pocket. "You're such a baby."

"And you obviously have no soul."

"Hey, I wonder what Adam's reaction would be to it. Adam?" Derek turned and found that Adam was no longer with them. "Where'd he go?"

"Adam?" Casey called, looking past Derek. "Seriously, it's like he needs a leash."

"I don't know about a leash, but I wouldn't mind some chains, especially if you were holding a whip." Adam said from behind Casey.

Casey turned around, ready to shove him, but then saw that he was holding out a rose.

"Here you go, Casey." Its stem was cut short and the tips of the petals were flush with a bright, bold pink which faded into a softer shade at the breadth of the petals.

"I read somewhere," Adam said once Casey took hold of the rose, "That a pink rose represents grace and elegance. I don't know if that's true, but it's definitely a lot more graceful and elegant now that you're holding it."

"Oh, Adam," Casey gave him a genuine smile. "This is actually really sweet. Thank you."

"No problem!" Adam beamed back. Casey held the rose not sure what to do with it and Adam said, "Oh, wait!" He spun around and after a few moments stopped a woman who was passing by, plucked two bobby pins from her hair and said, "Thank you!" The woman looked startled and opened her mouth as if to say something but then seemed to think better of it and kept on walking.

Adam took the rose from Casey's hand and reached up to put in the hair that was tucked behind her ear. "Do you mind?" he asked. Casey shook her head and he began to put the bobby pins in place over the stem. He pulled back and said, "Happy birthday, Casey."

Casey smiled, but gave him a questioning look. He clarified by saying, "Derek told me when he called. I wanted to get you something." He lifted his hand and touched the rose in her hair.

Derek felt something hot and sharp blossom in his stomach as he watched his best friend push a strand of hair out of Casey's face. It grew warmer still as he watched a flush of color spread across Casey's cheeks, illuminated by the random lights going off on the street.

Derek forced himself to turn away, and he wandered until he stopped and set himself amongst a small crowd in front of a guy playing the guitar. He listened, caught in the trance of good music, until Casey sidled up next to him.

"You should ask him if you can use his guitar for a minute." Casey said, "Play one of your songs. They've gotten really good."

"How would you know?" Derek murmured. He glanced at Casey, but the first thing he saw was the rose so he looked away.

"I went to a couple of your shows." Casey said.

Derek, still hoping that a music career was in his future, did his best to find places to play in his spare time. Usually this only amounted to small, dingy dives that no one had ever heard of.

He turned his whole body toward Casey, this time doing his best to ignore the flower in her hair. His eyebrows were raised in surprise. "How'd you even know about my shows?"

Casey shrugged nonchalantly, looking over at the guy playing guitar rather than at Derek. "You tell Edwin," She said before looking back at Derek. "Edwin tells me."

Derek hesitated a moment before asking, "What'd you think?"

Casey gave a small smile before she softly started singing, "_Scratch through me like paper/You leave me marked when you leave/Through this wall you whisper/You and I are just a dream."_

Hearing his words sung back to him by Casey blew him away. They seemed so much more beautiful-_important_, now.

"That one's my favorite," Casey said, "But it doesn't seem finished."

Derek shook his head, forcing himself to form words. "It isn't. But I play it anyway because it's my favorite, too."

"Finished or not, it's about a billion times better than what you were able to do in high school."

"Ain't that the truth!" Adam said, appearing next to them before Derek could respond to Casey, "Edwin e-mailed me Derek's old demos and _man _were they bad. Except for the few he did when you were his singer, Casey. The songs still sucked, but you sounded incredible."

Casey chuckled, "Thanks, Adam."

Derek glanced between Casey and Adam and the time he and Sam had gotten into that fight right before Sam and Casey started dating flashed into his mind. He really wanted to pounce on Adam, right then.

"Let's all look around a bit more before we continue on, yeah?" Casey suggested before Derek was able to decide whether or not he should take a swing and say he slipped.

Derek wandered through the different booths, coming across tables of handmade jewelry, stacks of old books, artwork, and food. He glanced up every once in a while to see where Casey was. He was thumbing through a stack of prints when he looked up to see Casey a few booths away. He was about to look back down when he watched Adam walk up to Casey.

Derek was close enough to hear Adam say hey to her clearly, and her say it back. He watched intently as Adam hovered next to Casey, looking down at whatever she was going through. They both noticed her shiver, like she'd been doing throughout the night since she left her sweater at Excursion.

Without saying anything, Adam unzipped his gray hoodie and took it off. He held it out to Casey. "Here," he said.

Casey looked at the jacket for a second and then shook her head. "I'm fine."

Adam rolled his eyes. "You're obviously cold. Just take it or I'll go take that free fish taco. And I'll bring you back one, too."

Casey laughed and then hesitantly reached out to take the hoodie. "Thank you." she said as she slipped her arms into the sleeves and tentatively zipped it up. Adam smiled down at her and then quietly walked off to the next booth. Casey watched him leave.

The feeling Derek had experienced when Adam had given Casey the rose began to bubble inside of him.

Derek tried to concentrate on a laminated print of a field with the focus being on the knees and converse of a person sitting folded up in the grass, but found that instead he was counting in his head. After roughly a minute and a half of staring blankly he stepped over toward Casey who was thumbing through a crate of cds at another booth.

"You take his jacket but not mine?" Derek asked, trying to sound joking but he couldn't completely hide the sharp edge from his voice. Casey noticed it, giving him a strange look.

Derek gave her an awkward smile, trying to diffuse the tension that suddenly appeared between them. He turned, but then stopped for a moment and then looked back at her. "He should have taken a daisy instead." Derek nodded his head in Adam's direction. His gaze then landed on the rose clipped in Casey's hair. Before she could say anything, he turned and walked in the direction of another booth.

* * *

As you can tell I took some of your suggestions and decided to do some flirtation between Adam and Casey. What do you think, was Derek jealous? :) I'm not too sure how I feel about this chapter. When I first started writing it, I adored it, but now…I like the street fair, which is based off of the First Friday street fair held here in Phoenix, but I feel like Casey's part at the store kind of fizzled =/ Hopefully you guys still find it enjoyable! Please review!


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